Avatar The Last Airbender: The Spiritbender War
by Darth Riven
Summary: One year after Sozin's Comet the world is at peace, or so it seems. Can the Gaang reunite and save the world once more with or without the help of unexpected allies or will they fall? Read to find out. Reviews would be very much appreciated. ON HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

**Avatar the Last Airbender: The Spiritbender War  
**

* * *

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender. OCs do belong to me_

A/N: It is best to read Ozai's Choice first, before reading this, even though they start at roughly the same time, and then beyond.

* * *

**Previously: The Outside World (that is outside of the ****Temple****)**

Panic rode through the prison guard's face. He had been guarding the prisoner, the former Fire Lord Ozai. Everything was still normal. The pathetic man was in his cell. And then the world had turned black. Now the cell was empty, the cell door was open. He ran through the passageway and saw all the other guards were also unconscious. _We have to tell Fire Lord Zuko, and the Avatar._ He thought, as he went to raise the alarm. Getting outside, he saw an air bison flying through the air in the distance. _No, it can't be the Avatar's_. But he was the only one with an air bison that the guard knew of. He rang the alarm

Fire Lord Zuko and his wife Mai were sitting in the drawing room, their nightly ritual during the last year, which had been hard on everyone in the Fire Nation, with war reparations, and rebuilding efforts, when the message came in. _Ozai has escaped._ The message went. Shock rode over the new Fire Lord's face. Mai gasped when she read. He dismissed the messenger and mulled over what to do. "Double the guards around my sister," he ordered.

"Yes, sir." The man left. Zuko took a deep breath and turned to Mai. "This is disturbing. But why Ozai? He can't bend."

"But they can still use him as the rallying point," Mai replied.

"Wouldn't Azula be better," Zuko asked.

"Perhaps," Mai answered, "perhaps not, Ozai is probably easier to control without his Firebending, Azula is a bit deranged you know."

Zuko turned away and gazed out into the night sky. He sighed heavily. Mai put her arms around him. "But I know, what's more, he was your last chance to find your mother," Mai said, as she kissed him lightly on the cheek. "I think we need to tell the other Kings at least."

"Yes," Zuko said. "I will compose messages to King Kuei, Chiefs Hakoda and Arnook and Aang. We will all be on the lookout for Ozai. But he is most likely to be held in the Fire Nation, right here. There must be some sort of plot to replace me and restart the war. I will need to talk to the Head of Internal Intelligence as well." Mai nodded. The messenger hawks went out that night. Team Avatar would have to meet again and join the hunt. He was sure that Ozai was guarded well by firebenders if not others who sought to restart the war he supposed.

* * *

In the Fire Nation capital, the newly appointed Imperial Advisor Ginra smiled. _This is good, he thought, the last person who could recognize me is gone._ Even though he had the look of a man in his fourties, Ginra was in fact a lot older, having been around the time when Fire Lord Azulon had ruled, though he had been the Palace Tutor at that time to the then Fire Lord's youngest child, the recent escapee. He had liked the time he had spent in the Fire Nation, watching over the world or so he had thought back then.

Since Azulon's death, though Ginra had changed sides, so to speak, to the side which favoured intervention, and taking direct rulership of the world no matter what the cost, to stop the wars between the four Nations, no he corrected himself, three nations. The world had suffered enough from Sozin, through Azulon and finally to Ozai. Inevitably, someone would start another war, and the world would suffer once more. That was why he was here now, to help depose the rulers of the three remaining nations, to combine them into one nation, one world, so that there would be no more war.

There were others that believed that with the ascension of Fire Lord Zuko, that things would change and argued against intervention, but if it was not Fire Lord Zuko starting the war; it could be the Earth King, or the Water Tribe leaders starting the wars in the future.

But first, he needed someone, a puppet ruler, for the while at least, to give the nations a chance to transition into new rulership and into a government that would span the world. He had the perfect candidate in mind, and with more than one hundred years experience in seduction, he knew he could get what he wanted.

* * *

The city of Omashu was a wondrous place where the lively Earth Kingdom populace hustled and bustled all day and most of the night. Recently, Bumi had gone into retirement, leaving Omashu without a ruler. Into the void had stepped Ji Liu, a minor noble, or so they said from one of the small kingdoms in the high reaches. No one knew how exactly he had taken the throne, but it was widely thought that he was the compromise candidate between two powerful factions within the Earth Kingdom.

Ji Liu, stood on the palace's balcony overlooking the much of the city. It had taken him a while to get to this place, and he wasn't about to let anyone get in the way of what he and his associates had planned. He saw his advisor, Li Fu, come in and give him an update. He was sure that Liu Xin was working her magic in Ba Sing Se.

* * *

In the North Pole, Chief Arnook lay on his death bed. Age had caught up to him, and he had no heir. It was left up to the Council to decide who would be the heir, and who would take over when Chief Arnook passed on. It didn't help that Master Pakku was in the Southern Tribes with his wife Kanna, helping them to rebuild their waterbender numbers.

Hana stood in the Council, watching. She fervently hoped that Hahn would be elected the next Chief. He was a powerful warrior and ex-fiance of Arnook's daughter Yue. He had matured during the last year, but he still retained some arrogance. And he was Hana's boyfriend. With his ascension, she would become the Chief's wife, and that was the one thing that she wanted, more than anything, for that would fit perfectly into her plans. She continued to observe.

* * *

Aang and Katara were sitting in the Jasmine Dragon tea shop in Ba Sing Se, when the message came in. Iroh, Aang and Katara read the note, "we have to do something," Iroh said. "My brother is a dangerous man. Even without his firebending."

Chief Hakoda and Chief Arnook and King Kuei were all worried. The escape of the former Phoenix King, Ozai was something that was not desired. They sent their elite troops to find any sign of the escaped prisoner but nothing was found. They swept through the tunnels and caves of the Earth Kingdom, the outlying islands of the Fire Kingdom, the abandoned Air Temples, and anywhere else they could think that people could survive.

* * *

A/N: Here's the beginning of a multi-chap fiction. Hope you enjoyed it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Avatar the Last Airbender: The Spiritbender War  
**

* * *

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender. OCs do belong to me_

A/N: It is best to read Ozai's Choice first, before reading this, even though they start at roughly the same time, and then beyond.

**A/N: AnimeFanGirlWrites4ever - thanks for the review. What they want will be revealed throughout the course of the story.  
**

**A/N: Thanks for your reviews Amber Pegasus and tege.  
**

**A/N: Churnok, thanks for your constructive criticism. I'll try to put it more together, but for me it's a natural break - like shifting from one TV scene to the next.**

**A/N: badkidoh, while I can't promise you anything specific, this chapter has a lot of bang to it. Ozai will definitely be tempted to go back to his old ways. He certainly ain't nice to a certain someone in this chapter. Some of the choices that he will make will antagonise the other heroes, don't you worry. And don't rule out a switch of sides either!**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

One month passed, and a Fire Nation airship, sweeping high in the mountains of the Northern Earth Kingdom, noticed something. It was a temple high in the mountains, one that wasn't on the maps. The Captain of the airship decided to zoom in with his telescope. He saw three figures, a man, and two children. He saw the two children firebend throwing streams of fire, hitting the two rocks within the view of the Captain. He focused in on the man. He saw the man had dark hair, long and lank, and had no shirt on, and was well-muscled. He saw the man go through a firebending stance, but saw no fire. What he didn't notice was the rock one hundred metres away shatter. He saw the kids clap. He focused in as the man's face became visible. _It's Ozai, _he recognized the former Fire Lord, even though his beard was now gone, as he was clean shaven. What the Captain didn't notice, was the woman who now approached Ozai. The Captain gave the order, and the airship left, after they had noted the co-ordinates. They would send a team to get him.

Ozai had just finished a session with little Fu, and little Ji, where he was teaching them more advanced firebending skills. He had his own training session later that day, with Feng, Mizuki and Yue Ying, more spiritbending sessions and more Unified Style training. Ozai saw Ursa approach him, a towel in hand. He pulled her in close, and kissed her. Fu and Ji made gagging noises, as Ozai collected his towel, and began to towel down after the training session. Ursa handed Fu and Ji their own towels to wipe their sweat and sent them to the baths.

Ursa and Ozai were walking into the courtyard. Ever since they had reaffirmed their marriage, they had lived in a state of wedded bliss. Their eight 'children' were a handful, but their world was perfect. Papa Bear and Mama Bear was the children's favourite game, they would hang off Ozai's arms, sit on Ursa's lap. And they would all laugh and roll around.

"Ursa," Ozai said, as he held her closely, "I love you."

"I know," Ursa replied, "I love you too. You don't need to keep telling me that all the time."

"Ah, but I do," Ozai said, "Because you are everything to me." She laughed again, as he hugged her.

"Stop being so silly," Ursa said, giggling merrily, as they entered into the quarters they now shared.

Night passed, and day came, and the happy family of the Temple continued their sequestered lives. Tai Feng said that Ozai wasn't ready yet, he still had to finish mastering the Unified Style. Tai Feng was the one who usually talked to him outside of training and he was the closest to the children, but Yue Ying was the martial leader of their small Temple group, she was the oldest, at about 200 or so Feng guessed.

Feng told him and Ursa, that there were other spiritbenders out there. They had had a falling out over what Sozin had done, slowly. There were those who favoured sitting out of the war, there were those who favoured intervention and a search for the new Avatar, and an assassination of Sozin. As the war dragged on for a hundred years, more spiritbenders were in favour of assassinating the Fire Lord and ending the war, and directly intervening and ruling the world themselves. I and the others here on our side, believed that the power would have corrupted us and turned us into tyrants. We would not have let go."

"I know," Ozai replied, "I lived it." He sighed, content as if reminiscing.

"Believe it or not," Feng said, "they were going to have you killed, and put Iroh on the throne."

Ozai laughed, "That would have stopped the war. Neither Zuko or Iroh wanted to continue the war."

"Yes," Feng said, "but lately there are those of us spiritbenders that think that we should take direct rule of the world. We are those who believe differently. However, they are winning; we are down to the three of us, and you now."

"How many of them are there?"

"Even we don't know," Feng said, "When Brother Huo died, we don't know how many of them he took with him to death. They may only be four; they may be as many as nine, if the Brother failed to kill any of them."

"Who was Brother Huo?" Ozai asked.

"He was our elder, the oldest of the Spiritbenders," Feng said, "He was an ex-firebender like you. We think he took five of them down with him but we will never know their bodies were vaporised by the blast of chi energy."

Ozai nodded, "Brother Huo was a great man."

"Aye," Feng said, "he was. Our enemies will not stop; they have lost hope that the four nations could be rebuilt. They have lost hope that the balance will be restored."

"And a lot of it is my fault," Ozai said, sadly, "I should have done things differently."

"You could not undo what Sozin did," Feng replied, "You could not undo the slaughter of the airbenders." Ozai nodded in agreement, "I believe that the balance will come back naturally, airbenders will come through those who have the blood of the airbenders in them. They should start emerging more and more often; at least that was what Brother Huo believed. The balance will be restored naturally." Ursa and Ozai left to sleep for the night in their shared bedroom. Tai Feng left for his.

The messenger hawk got back to the King Huei in Ba Sing Se, Ozai has been spotted, and coordinates are as follows. King Kuei dispatched a messenger to the Jasmine Dragon, where Toph, Aang and Katara and Iroh were. "Zuko would want to be here," Iroh said, "to catch his father."

"I'm here, Uncle Iroh," the Fire Nation's Fire Lord stepped into the small shop in Ba Sing Se sans Mai. "We head out tomorrow on the my airship. We will catch the criminal again." Zuko's face creased in determination.

The next morning came, and with the arrival of Sokka and Suki from the Kyoshi Islands, the group set out towards the Temple. At the Temple, its inhabitants went through their daily routine.

Ozai was going through more advanced firebending techniques, today he was teaching the children to fly by using fire. He demonstrated, "you have to push steadily down with your energy through the feet, but not too much or you'll shoot off into the air, come try it, Ji." The dark haired girl complied and began to push down. The steam produced underneath her feet began to produce the desired effect, of pushing her up into the air.

"Wow, Papa Bear," she said, "I'm floating," exhilarated, but she suddenly fell back down to the ground, having lost her concentration. "Ouch," she said, as she rubbed her backside. Little Fu laughed. Ozai gave his son an arched look which promptly shut him up.

"That was good, little Ji," Ozai said. "Fu, I expect you to do better, if you are laughing at your sister like that." Bei Fu nodded and began to try to fly using the power of firebending. Unlike his sister, he lost control and shot up straight in the air. Ozai tapped the ground, and zoomed straight up after him, using chi energy rather than firebending. He caught up to his son, and scooped him up in his arms, and whispered, "you can stop, you'll need to learn control." Ozai looked up in the air, and saw an airship heading straight for them.

He landed on the ground, and patted little Fu on the head, "Ji, Fu," he said, as his eyes scanned the horizon, seeing the airship approach. "Both of you, go back inside to your mother, tell her to hide with you, practice will finish early today. We might have a few unwanted guests." His two children nodded and went running back towards the living quarters. Ozai stripped off his robe, and waited. The airship approached.

On board the Fire Nation airship, Team Avatar was preparing their attack. "Bring us in," Fire Lord Zuko ordered. The Captain of the airship complied. Looking out the spyglass, Sokka saw Ozai standing in the middle of the courtyard of the Temple, unmoving.

"I suspect something," Sokka said, "he's standing there, just waiting, probably a trap or something. He must have allies." Zuko agreed. He signalled Aang behind on Appa along with Katara. They dropped suddenly, and Aang waited, but no attack came. Aang and Katara dropped off Appa and assumed their fighting stances.

Seeing that no surprise attack came, the other members of Team Avatar dropped down onto the ground of the courtyard. "Surrender now, Ozai, and come peacefully," Zuko said as they approached slowly. Ozai didn't move an inch. _It was a good thing I told little Fu and Ji to hide with my wife. _He didn't want Ursa to see Zuko, he feared she would leave him for Zuko, the son she had always loved. He should have realized that Ursa would keep her promise, never to leave him again, he should have realised that she had only done what she had done to save Zuko's life, that Zuko was not really in danger if understanding passed between her husband and his eldest son. He should have realized that she loved little Fu and her other children too much to leave them. He should have known that she loved her husband. But he did not.

"No," he answered. "Leave here, now," he roared. "Or I will make you leave."

"You and what army," Zuko said, "you have no firebending powers." He shifted slightly in his stance. Toph readied her earthbending power to trap Ozai in a prison of rock.

"I will repeat it again," Ozai said slowly, "leave now, or I will make you leave." Toph moved, earthbending to entrap Ozai. The earth moved as one with Toph's manipulation. Ozai jumped backwards to avoid the earth. Jagged spikes and protrusions like hands came up out of the earth. "You won't catch me so easily," he taunted. Flipping away from the latest pillar of earth to erupt from the courtyard. Katara's water whip came in from his right side, and he twisted as it whipped past him. Aang and Zuko attacked throwing two fireballs, forcing Ozai to drop to the ground, only to roll away from another set of rocky hands that threatened to grab him.

Ozai continued to dodge relentlessly, not attacking, but dodging. Not that he had a lot of time to counter attack against four benders and whatever else they were throwing at him. But it would only be a matter of time when he was trapped. Sweat dripped off his body as he dodged the next attack. He was only delaying for time, as the others would come. No, he couldn't do that. This was his fight, his problem to solve. He had to call his firebending and spiritbending abilities to the fore to fight his enemies.

"That's it," Ozai said. "I'm getting serious." He saw a second airship come into range, troops from the Fire Nation and the Earth Nation. When they arrived it would be about one against ten. He deepened his stance into the Unified Style. He called his firebending abilities for now, forming a whip of fire. He smiled; a feral grin.

Zuko looked in shock, as he saw Ozai summon a whip of fire. _He can bend_, _what's happened. Didn't the Avatar strip his bending ability away?_ Aang worried, _had he not done enough, how? Why did Ozai get his powers back?_ Katara saw recognised a waterbending stance, _what's happening, how can he treat fire like water? _Toph knew that the attack had to continue, it would be an even more dangerous dance of the elements. Aang's Avatar State had been able to beat Ozai, but there would be four of them this time at least.

They attacked, all at once, fire, earth, air and water. Ozai bought the whip of fire crashing down, blowing away the attacks, nothing more, nothing less. The next lot of attacks, he blocked again, with a wall of fire. The fire whip that he wielded, flicked out quickly, at Katara, she was probably the weakest out of the four that he was facing right now. His chain of fire whipped was met by a wall of water and ice, but he just changed mid-style to a heavier splitting blow, more like earthbending, crashing through the defensive wall, and striking Katara, who had to roll away.

She came up clutching her left arm, revealing an ugly burn on it. She quickly retreated for now, dropping back to heal herself.

Toph threw blocks of earth at Ozai, pressing the attack. He had to wall his back with fire, to prevent any attacks from the back. He could only hold out for so long. Even the former Phoenix King could not defeat ten at once. He saw one more familiar face come to face him, his older brother Iroh, leading the troops that had just landed. They worked as one, throwing fire and earth at once, an overwhelming attack. _Time to change to spiritbending. _Ozai drew deep into his reserves, the well within his body, he drew from the air without, the earth beneath, the chi flowing through all around him, he prepared, flexed, readied to strike.

He punched out, without fire, straight towards Toph, who didn't see the attack coming. No one saw any fire, and so assumed that the attack had somehow fizzled. Only Aang had time to shout, "Toph watch out," before the blast of chi knocked Toph off her feet and back into the stone wall. She fell down with a thud, injured. Toph was angry, she didn't feel or see that one coming.

"What the hell was that," Zuko asked.

"It's nothing I've seen before," Aang replied, as they continued to attack, "but I felt the rush of energy emerge from Ozai just before Toph went flying."

Ozai had no time to quip with a rejoinder, as he dodged Iroh's fire breath. The Earth Kingdom soliders continued to press with boulders, he threw another couple of bolts of lightning, blocked by earth walls, and then had to dodge the fireballs that came back at him.

He saw that the two girls that he had struck earlier had recovered and began to attack once more. He couldn't hold out much longer, even his strength was beginning to fade. A lash of a water whip, a boulder struck his shoulder, as he continued to weave away from attacks and then counterattack.

"Papa Bear," he heard a voice come in from inside the building, "let me help," little Fu threw a fireball through the window at Katara. Reflexively a torrent of water was sent back towards the building.

"No," Ozai shouted, as he flew by the power of fire, with renewed energy into the attack's incoming path to save his son. The water hit him in the back. Ozai blew chi energy to soften the blow, but the torrent still sent him to the floor.

"Papa Bear…" he heard the scream of two children, "Ozai," a woman's voice panicked unheard through the cacophony. He picked himself up, and dusted himself off.

"Now you've made me mad, no one hurts my family," he growled, almost inhuman with righteous anger. He aimed to kill summoning lightning to his arms with the circular motion needed to bend lightning. He threw two bolts, whiplike at the Fire Nation soldiers.

He saw little Fu run out, "Fu, get back inside," he shouted, had time as he whipped the lightning around. Zuko jumped in front of his uncle Iroh, as the lightning came towards him, reflexively redirecting it, but without control on its path. It arced towards Bei Fu. Ozai shot straight towards his son, shielding him. His redirected lightning struck him right in the middle of the back. _Gods that hurt._ He felt the red flare of pain coursing through his body. "Son, are you alright," he whispered, between gasps of breath.

Fu's eyes were filled with tears, "Papa bear," he said, between ragged sobs, "I'm fine. You're hurt, papa bear." Ozai gasped taking deep ragged breaths. He had to grab his son and roll, as the earthbenders tried to catch them once more. He lifted the boy with one arm, around Fu's waist held against his side. His other hand ready to bend chi. His eyes looked wild, almost feral. He lashed out, sending a blast of chi out in front, a wave of energy. The blast knocked some of the enemies off their feet, but lacked the focused power to kill. Holding his child whilst fighting was not something that Ozai was used to, at all. He only hoped that the others would arrive soon, or he would, well die, or be captured again. _Would the Avatar try to strip his powers again? Or would they just execute him?_

Little Fu looked very worried. His Papa Bear, his father was holding him tightly by the waist. These scary looking enemies; were all attacking his Papa Bear. Who were they? "Mama, help, Papa," he screamed. Ozai with Fu jumped backwards, again throwing another wave of chi energy, just to distract them, pressing for time.

"He's got the little child hostage," Zuko said, not believing that Little Fu would ever actually love his father. He had never known his father to show any love to anyone. Inside the building Ursa and Little Ji, came out of the door. She saw who was outside, "stop," she screamed.

Zuko stared in shock, Iroh likewise, this was the missing, the banished Ursa, and she was with _Ozai?_ They thought, as they saw her and the little girl child rush towards Ozai. Two earthbenders moved towards to stop her, but Iroh held them back with an order.

* * *

A/N: I'll leave it at this slight cliffy. What will Ursa do and say? Will she be able to stop the attack? Look forward to the next chapter. Please Review!


	3. Chapter 3

**Avatar the Last Airbender: The Spiritbender War  
**

* * *

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender. OCs do belong to me_

**A/N: badkidoh, AmberPegasus, thanks for the reviews**

**A/N: ArrayePL: Ursa's explanations are coming right up! And much more.  
**

**A/N: Sorekai - Iroh and Ozai talking will probably occur in the next couple of chapters. More action right now...**

_**A/N: Poll question - Should Iroh and Ozai have the same birth mother? Considering their age difference of twenty one years? Please answer in your reviews!  
**_

* * *

**Chapter 2  
**

"Princess Ursa," Iroh said, "what are you doing?"

"Helping my husband," she said, a hard look crossing her face. Little Fu and Little Ji were crying, worried, scared. Ozai was still visibly tired, and sweating and hurting. Ursa knelt down and held Ozai close to herself.

"Ursa, you should not be here," Ozai said, between ragged gasps. "It's dangerous, they want to take me away."

"I am the only one that can stop this, husband dear," she replied, serenely. She got up, and walked towards the invaders. "Everyone stop attacking my husband," her voice authoritative. She had not used that tone of voice for years, and it felt almost surreal, strange that this would have been what she would have been used to using if she had been Fire Lady and not exiled. If she hadn't committed that horrible crime for the sake of her child.

"Ursa," Iroh said, "have you gone crazy. Your husband, sent you into exile."

"And that is between my husband and I, brother-in-law," she said. "It is none of your concern." Aang, Katara and Toph now understood, so this was the legendary Ursa, the missing Ursa, who the Fire Lord Zuko had been searching for, and she was back with the evil Ozai.

"Mother…" Zuko stated, "I've found you once again. And you are with him?"

"Yes," she said, "I am with my husband, and my children." She turned to stare at her eldest child. "You are an adult, able to make your own way in the world, I have my husband, and my other children to love and to cherish every moment with. They need me more than you need me." It was hard to say, but it was true. "If you are going to take my husband away from me, take the children's father away from them, then I will not forgive you, even you."

"Mother," Zuko said, "How could you? How could you love that cruel beast?"

"He loves me," Ursa said. "He's changed, for the better. At least give him a chance to prove himself as he has proven himself to me."

"He's tricking you," Zuko shouted, "all he wants is to resume the Throne."

"He's never talked about leaving here," Ursa answered, "we have been happy here, and you want to take us away from our happiness. But I will hear you out, if you will come in for tea. Otherwise, leave. I am content living here with my husband and my children, though it is good to see you again, son."

It was then that an air bison flew down out of the air. "We're here," Tai Feng said, he jumped off his air bison and drew his staff, landing next to Ozai and Ursa and the kids. Two more children joined them, in airbending stances, ready to fight, they were older than Ji and Fu though, about ten. A tunnel opened in the courtyard on their other side, as six more figures emerged, two adults, women, and four children.

"Perfect timing as usual, Feng," Ozai managed to say, as he had time to draw on his internal well of chi energy to heal. An angry look crossed Tai Feng's face, "Leave the Temple," Feng said. Mizuki, and Yue Ying stood ready too to attack, their stances patient, waiting for a flicker of movement indicating an attack.

"Stand your troops down, Zuko," Ursa said, "please." Zuko waved an arm, and the troops stood down. She took little Fu with her, and went over to Zuko, "Fu, meet your eldest brother, the Fire Lord Zuko. Zuko this is your youngest brother, Bei Fu." Bei Fu extended his small right hand out.

"Nice to meet you," Bei Fu said. "Mama Bear told me you were my older brother. And that she loves you. Papa Bear doesn't like you, though. He likes me best. I know because he tells me so." A glare from his father, a giggle from his mother told everyone that little Bei Fu was still quite young noting that he shouldn't have said that in public.

"Come, let us go," Ursa stated. "Come in for some tea." It was obvious she was the one that ran the small household of the Temple, for this was what she was trained to do, what she had done ever since her exile, what she was prepared to do when she was still Princess Ursa.

With another wave of the arm, and an order, the troops went back to the airship.

What was unnoticed was the Avatar Aang staring at Tai Feng and his two children. They were airbenders. He could tell from the stance, the staff that the adult carried and his clothing, though not standard airbender fare, it was similar enough to make him suspect. "Are you an airbender?" he asked, hesitant.

"I can bend air," Tai Feng said, "as can my two children." He turned around to his two children, "Zheng Yi, Xin, this is the Avatar Aang, the current incarnation of the Avatar. He disappeared one hundred years ago or so."

"But you are," Aang replied, "Alive. I wasn't the last." Standing before him was an adult airbender, someone must have survived."

Tai Feng's eyes looked full of compassion, and he sighed, "Avatar, my children are barely twelve, but I am over one hundred and twenty years old, by my last count. And I don't count myself as an airbender, I'm a spiritbender."

"Oh," Aang said.

"You were frozen in ice, for a hundred years," Tai Feng said, "I lived through all those years, with the spiritbenders. But the balance is being restored, airbenders will begin to pop up around in the other nations, through people who have airbender blood in them. That's what I believe."

"Come with me," Tai Feng continued, "I will tell you more about myself, invite your companions to come, I think my younger martial brother Ozai and his family need time alone to themselves. Now, Yi, Xin, go with the other children." Aang, Katara and Toph followed Tai Feng back into another room in the Temple. Tai Feng put on a pot of tea, I hope you like the green tea blend."

The inside of Tai Feng's quarters was sparsely furnished, just a simple wooden table, as befit an ex-airbender monk. However, there were spots of garishness, gaudiness highlighting his difference with other airbenders. In his opinion they were too staid, too boring with their obsession with meditation. That was why he was such a bad airbender; he liked fun too much, besides his other sins.

Inside Ursa and Ozai's quarters, a tense session of tea was what could best describe what was happening. Ozai and Ursa sat next to each other on one side the table, Bei Fu sitting on Ozai's lap. Zuko and Iroh sat on the other side of the table, faces unreadable. "Have some tea," Ursa said, as she served the green jasmine tea.

"Mother, I want you and Bei Fu to come back to the Fire Nation with me," Zuko said, pointedly.

"She will stay with me here," Ozai shot back. Inside he was worried that Ursa and Bei Fu would leave him, because he knew that she loved Zuko a lot and would want to spend time with him.

"I think it is best to let Ursa to speak for herself," Iroh interjected.

"I am staying here," Ursa replied, "with my children and my husband." She took a sip of her tea and put the cup gently down. "Besides, there is still the matter of the treason I committed."

"Mother, I can have that lifted," Zuko said. "Come back with me, come make up for the lost years." He was almost pleading. Bei Fu, played around with his cup of tea. Ozai's hand moved to stop his erstwhile son from spilling his tea.

"I still choose to stay here," Ursa continued, sipping from the ornate cup, "I love my husband, and I know he loves me."

"See how he has brainwashed you into thinking he is a good man," Zuko exploded, "don't you know what he has done?"

"I do," Ursa said, "and I accept," matter-of-fact, she took another sip of her tea. "He is my husband. We promised to love and cherish each other forever, and this time we both intend on keeping the promise. He is happy here, away from the politics of the Fire Nation, away from temptation." Ozai continued to do nothing, just playing with Bei Fu, Iroh sat impassive, observing.

Ozai said, handing Bei Fu over to Ursa, "I did those things, and I am not proud of them. I am sorry for what I did." He took a swig of his now warm tea. "I am truly sorry for what I have done. Believe me. Your mother does."

"That's because you've brainwashed her to believe all your words," Zuko said, "You've even got my brother brainwashed. That's it; I challenge you to Agni Kai." Iroh drew in a sharp breath. A look of worry crossed Ursa's face, Bei Fu looked angry.

"I accept," Ozai answered back angrily, a snap reaction, his golden eyes glared at his disowned son, now Fire Lord. "Now leave." Zuko stalked off, as Iroh followed. Ursa looked…well it was too hard for Ozai to read her emotions.

"Ozai," she said, "you…" she was lost for words.

"I know," he replied, comforting her, "I will go easy on the boy."

"You know he will try to kill you," Ursa stated. "He won't hold back."

"Ursa, you do not need to worry, he's all of eighteen, and still has a long while to mastery of fire," Ozai answered, "I know that I can win and force him to back down. It would be wiser for him to withdraw before though, but perhaps it may not be honourable to do so."

"Honour be damned right now, this is my son and husband we are talking about," Ursa exploded, uncharacteristic for her, "Iroh will try to talk sense into him," Ursa continued. "I know."

"But he will not back down," Ozai answered, "I have made him hate me that much," comforting his wife.

"Let's hope that common sense prevails then," Ursa replied. Her husband agreed. Secretly, she feared the showdown that was about to happen, to have to choose once again between her husband and her child.

"Are you crazy," Iroh said, as they exited the room, "Ozai will kill you. Who is going to take the throne after that? Azula? Ozai himself, will plunge the world into war. What about your wife to be, Mai?"

"No," Zuko replied, "she will see who he really is, and come back to me. And before it gets fatal, she will interfere. If I die, you can still take the throne as you were meant to."

"Are you so ready to take that chance," Iroh asked, "Ozai is a master firebender, it may have been better if I took your place instead."

"No," Zuko said, "I have to do this myself, I have to prove that Ozai is just as evil as he ever was. I am ready to take that chance, Azula was as good as Ozai, and I would have beaten her, had she not tried to attack Katara."

"I know," Iroh said, "but Ozai is another class above her, he has the experience and the natural talent."

"Yes, uncle," Zuko answered, "but I will win."

"If you say so," Iroh replied, sighing. There was no way of stopping his nephew now that he was firmly decided.

Meanwhile, back in Tai Feng's quarters, Aang, Katara, Sokka and Toph were continuing to drink their tea, whilst talking. Some of the talk got to the technical aspects of airbending which Toph and Katara could not quite follow. Bei Fu ran into the door, "my rotten brother has challenged Papa Bear to a fight," he shouted, "some Agni Kai thing." They all shot up, _shit_, Tai Feng thought, _not the best start_. Katara and Sokka looked angry and ready to attack. Toph kept her features well-schooled. Aang was still entranced by meeting another airbender who was alive that he had no other feelings but wonderment.

"Bei Fu," Tai Feng asked, "are you sure this is true?"

The boy nodded earnestly, "they are starting in five minutes."

"See, I don't know why we trusted you in the first place, all of you are evil," Katara shouted, no longer able to contain herself. Her brother nodded in agreement. Toph and Aang did not move.

"No we are not," Tai Feng replied, "you are the ones who decided to disturb our peaceful Temple." He held Bei Fu close to him, ready to spring away if the situation needed it.

"Just what a villain would say," Sokka interjected, angrily, "you are harbouring the world's worst criminal and you expect us to believe that you are good guys."

"If Ozai kills Zuko, I will be the first to take him down, and Lady Ursa trusts him and I trust her judgement," Tai Feng said, "don't you worry your little brain about that." He stood up taking Bei Fu along with him, "I'm going to watch the fight. You are free to come with or not."

The others got up to follow Tai Feng outside to watch the fight. Bei Fu ran over towards his mother and father. When he reached them, he said in a fierce voice, "Papa Bear, be careful." Ozai patted him on the head and replied that he would.

Ozai stripped off his robe, revealing his broad and sculpted chest. He wore plain brown pants, nothing else, it was simple as befit his new position in the world, his new outlook. Zuko was dressed in the fighting armour of the Fire Nation and looked ready to kill.

Ozai and Zuko circled around the courtyard slowly. Ozai knew what he had to do to win. Zuko attacked straight away, sending blue flames at Ozai. Ozai raised his hand in and his own blue flame met the incoming fireball, sending it up into the air where it dissipated, harmlessly.

Zuko began to intensify his attack, using the power of firebending to increase his speed. He became a blur to little Bei Fu and Ursa who could barely follow the new speed that the Fire Lord used. Ursa worried that Ozai would have to hurt Zuko to win.

Ozai called the power of firebending to the fore, to help him counteract Zuko's speed. Zuko had managed to throw multiple fireballs whilst running at high fire assisted speed. Ozai batted aside each one, deflecting them up into the air, away from anyone else. He decided to wait, in this game, his endurance was better than Zuko's. His simple living here, at the Temple, had conditioned him quicker and better than ten years of training at the Fire Nation Palace had done. The rich life of a Fire Nation Prince wasn't so good for keeping the body in full fighting condition.

Sweat beaded down the Fire Lord's face, as he pushed harder putting more and more energy into trying to beat Ozai. He changed his battle tactics to lightning as the man's steadfast defence infuriated him. It was as if he had made firebending into a defensive stance, but unlike the dragon's dance that Zuko himself had learnt which was based on dodging, it was as if he had made fire move like earth, be solid like earth. Ozai just continued to block each and every fire attack that was thrown at him sending it into the air with intricate movements of his hands and arms, or even audaciously, his legs to send a cascade of fire into the air, before flipping over via a handstand and then landing and blocking the next attack again.

Steadfast defence was what was in the front of Ozai's mind as he continued to fend off Zuko's attacks. Frustrate the opponent until he makes a mistake, outlast him and then pin him down. This was nothing more than a training spar for Ozai, in terms of what energy he had to expend in defending himself. But in his heart, it was more important. It was important for himself, his wife and his family. It was his chance to prove that he had changed for the better and that all he wanted was to be with his family, be with Bei Fu, Ursa and the other kids at the Temple. He began to bend the lightning that was being thrown at him. So, Zuko had started to run out of tricks with fire, he thought.

As the lightning arced towards him, Ozai bent it away with a vicious thrust of his arm. It was time to attack, now, as lightning took more energy, than throwing fire. More energy expended meant that it left him more open for a disabling attack. Ozai dodged the next arc of lightning, and charged, with the power of fire, towards Zuko, drawing a sharp gasp of breath from everyone else present. He forced Zuko to flip away, and he pressed forward, attacking, bare-fisted, punching Zuko, a glancing blow on the arm. He fired a basic fireball, punching out, with his right fist, the fireball sailing harmlessly away as Zuko avoided it with a burst of fire carrying him away from the danger.

He retaliated with another burst of lightning, Ozai bend his body left to avoid the lightning, and then controlled the lightning in his hands, by placing his hands, as if catching the lightning itself, and then bent it back towards Zuko, a use of spiritbending, hitting the surprised Zuko, who barely managed to raise his arms in a quick defence. Ozai pushed forwards and used a firewhip, sending it snaking towards Zuko, a liberal usage of waterbending stance to encourage the fire to flow like a river of gas, making it infinitely more dangerous. The liquid fire whip struck a wall of fire, but Ozai repeated his earlier trick, that he had used against Katara, he shifted his strike to a earthbending style attack, hard enough to penetrate the wall of fire.

Ursa gasped, as she saw Ozai's attack strike home, sending Zuko flying backwards, a long scar appeared on the Fire Lord's armour. Ozai attacked, closing in on the recovering Zuko, forcing him to fight hand to hand, where Ozai was definitely a lot more skilled. He threw a left, right combination, striking a block with one, the other digging into Zuko's gut. Ozai grabbed out with his right hand and slammed Zuko into the ground. The ground cracked open as the armour laden Fire Lord was driven down by Ozai's power.

Ozai called lightning to his right hand, and shaped it into a sword, "this is a new technique; I call the lightning sword, Zuko."

Ursa screamed, "Ozai."

* * *

A/N: Cliffhanger. Has Ozai already lost control over his new found contentment, his new found peace with the return of Zuko? Was it all a trick? Read the next chapter to find out! Please review.


	4. Chapter 4

**Avatar the Last Airbender: The Spiritbender War  
**

* * *

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender. OCs do belong to me_

**A/N: AmberPegasus, thanks for the reviews**

**A/N: Sorekai, thanks for the review. There's a little Ozai-Iroh interaction in the beginning of this story. Hope you like it.  
**

**A/N: Churnok, how did I go too far? Was it the author's note at the end of the chapter? And the question is relevant as the Fire Lord's family will be quite fleshed out. I was just curious as well, since Iroh is 21 years or so older than Ozai, does that mean an almost 50-60 year old woman gave birth to a baby...  
**

* * *

**Chapter 3  
**

Iroh and the others all prepared to attack. Ozai stabbed downwards, as Zuko's eyes grew wide…but the sword missed Zuko's head, deliberately. Suddenly the whole courtyard filled with Ozai's booming laughter, "had you all there, didn't I?" he said, smiling, as he offered a hand to Zuko.

Looks of relief crossed everyone else's face. Tai Feng grinned. _So he did have a sense of humour under that exterior._ Zuko, pride hurt more than anything got up by himself and dusted himself off.

Ursa marched up to her husband and slapped him on the face, "don't you ever dare scare me like that again," she said. Ozai laughed and whispered something in her ear that no one else knew. Then Ursa went to give her eldest a hug. "I've missed you so much Zuko."

Her son returned her hug, cautiously at first, as if working out that she was doing this of her own free will, and then, more passionately and lovingly as he realized that she had consciously made the choice to stay here with her husband. When he released her, he saw that his little brother had jumped onto Ozai's back and was now being held in a piggyback position. He saw his mother's husband walk along with Bei Fu on his back away, leaving him and his mother alone for the time being.

* * *

Imperial Chancellor Ginra bowed, as he exited the Imperial Hall. Fire Lady Mai, had just finished giving her orders for the day. There was a lot the Chancellors, the top Generals and the others in the Fire Nation were hiding from the Fire Lord and his Lady. One was that the Fire Nation was going bankrupt with all the war reparations they had had to pay the last year. The second, was the bad harvest for the year, had begun to leave Fire Nation people in a bad position. They all feared that the people would starve. But they all feared that the Fire Lord and Fire Lady would push the Nation off the cliff, so to speak, for the sake of the peace.

Some of the more militant generals and chancellors wanted to restart the war, so that the Fire Nation would be forever secure. The others did not, but all agreed that Fire Lord Zuko would need to be removed, at least that way it would relieve some of the stress on the Fire Nation, as they would unilaterally withdraw from reparations and stop paying, close their borders, and hopefully rebuild the nation to some form of stability and strength.

They knew that the Avatar would stop any foreign invasion from the Earth Nation or the Water Tribes, because he would have to keep his precious peace. And if the people of the Fire Nation, they guessed, rejected Zuko as Fire Lord, he would abide by that decision of the people that he was supposed to safeguard and represent as Avatar, not the interests of his friends. That was the one thing that troubled the administrators and the generals, the fact that Aang and Zuko were friends, far too dangerous.

But they knew they had to save the Fire Nation from oblivion, which was where Zuko's policies were leading them to. Ginra smiled as the General left the meeting. He had planted the seed of replacing Zuko with someone strong, yet more mouldable, more manipulable, and he had the perfect candidate in mind. With over one hundred's year's practice he would have her listening to his every suggestion. The generals and administrators said that Ozai would have been better, without firebending he would be much easier to control. They had argued that he must be hiding somewhere in the Fire Nation, since he had no means to travel anywhere else, and he was certainly hated outside the Fire Nation. But Ginra had assured them that the 'escape' was just a convenient excuse for Zuko to have his father murdered, and they had swallowed that lie.

* * *

Tai Feng went back to his quarters as well, and Aang, Katara, Sokka and Toph joined him, as he had invited them back, after they had cleared their misunderstanding. "So are you going to be staying at our Temple long?" he asked. "We do have guest quarters down near the front mountain entrance to the Temple," he continued, as his guests followed him back into his simple sitting room.

"It is up to the Fire Lord," Katara replied, "how long the majority of the troops will stay, and where they will be housed."

"If he wants to stay, then he will have to speak to me, I am the keeper of this Temple," Tai Feng said.

Aang nodded. "I would like to at least stay for a while, so that I can learn more about airbending."

Tai Feng smiled, "then I will show you to the guest quarters, though I don't know how much more I can teach you." Tai Feng got up and exited his quarters and then showed his guests the guest quarters. They were nicely furnished, if a bit simply. A couple of beds in each room, mostly single beds, but a few double beds too. "If you prefer camping out, you can camp out on the sitting room by the fireplace," Tai Feng said.

"Thank you very much, Brother Feng," Aang said, "it will be fine."

Tai Feng bowed, in a traditional Airbender style, "the pleasure is mine," he bowed and left, leaving Aang and the others to survey their quarters.

Aang, looked inside one of the bedrooms, and saw the bed; it reminded him of the old quarters of the old Air Temples. Aang smiled, having not seen something like this for a long time, since his childhood. "Wow, this looks exactly like where I grew up," Aang said, "this was how the Air Temple dormitories were designed when I was little."

Katara nodded, looking at the comfortable beds that were in the room. She flopped down on one, relaxing. Sokka was in another room, flopped on the bed as well. He fell asleep on the top of the bed, snoring, even though dinner had yet to be served for that night.

* * *

Back in Ozai and Ursa's shared quarters, Ozai had just exited the bath, and was now entering the kitchen, dressed in a simple tunic and pants. He saw Ursa chopping the vegetables and a pot of soup steaming in the kitchen. Coming up to her, he enveloped her in a hug, wrapping his arms around her arms. She put down her chopping knife and let him hug her tighter.

"Dear," Ursa said, "you can let go now, I still have to make dinner for us and the others. I invited our son and your brother for dinner tonight."

"Yes, Ursa," Ozai replied, "Do you need me to help you?" He took some of the meat that Ursa had lain out on the bench. "How do you want me to do this?"

"The meat," she said, "just slice it into thin strips for me, dear." Ozai took the knife, and the meat, and began to slice it carefully, placing it in a bowl. He snuck a look at his wife, who was finishing off chopping a carrot.

He passed the bowl to Ursa, "here," he said, "it's done for you, the way you like it." He went in for another kiss, which she returned.

"Thanks, love," she said, as they disengaged, putting the carrots into the soup. "Go and make some tea to drink with your brother and your son." She handed him a steaming pot of tea.

He stooped in for another kiss, "you owe me, a lot," he said, as he exited the kitchen. In the sitting room, he put down the pot of tea, which was steaming down onto the table. Taking four cups, he poured out some tea, for three of the cups; Ursa wouldn't be out of the kitchen for a while.

Ozai saw his errant son and brother step into the house through the front door. _Be nice to them_ he remembered what Ursa said. "Come in," he said, "sit." Zuko and Iroh sat down, opposite Ozai. He poured out some tea for his guests.

"So," Ozai said, trying to make conversation, "how is the Fire Nation's rebuilding going?" Trying to make polite conversation that wasn't too controversial for them. This was not one of his own strengths; making small talk. He took a sip of the tea and shuddered, it was too hot. He coughed. "I'm sorry."

Another answer, clipped and short, after a short sip of the tea, "fine, the reparations after the war, were costly but we all bore the cost. Avatar Aang made sure of that. We have all been helping each other to rebuild the world you nearly destroyed," from his son Zuko. Iroh sat and sipped his tea, quiet as usual.

Ozai nodded, "It is going well then. That is good," forced politeness oozing through his voice.

"Yes, it is," Zuko replied, "no thanks to you," the same cold tone.

"I hear that there is a to be a new Fire Lady," Ozai said, "I wish her all the best. Hope she will give you strong and healthy children."

"We will love our children no matter what they are," Zuko replied, starting to get irritated. He had never gotten along with his own father, he did not see why he had to now, at least when mother was out of earshot.

"I do hope though, that the Fire Lord's children will be strong and healthy enough to lead the Fire Nation through what will be troubled times," Ozai said.

"Are you implying something?" Zuko replied, "I plan to reign for a long time."

"No," Ozai said, "I am not implying anything. I have been nothing but polite to you. I only wish the Fire Lord," he said sarcastically, "would extend the same courtesy to his elder." Even though the physical fight was over, they now resorted to trading verbal barbs.

"Courtesy," Zuko said, agitated, "why should I extend courtesy to an escaped prisoner."

"Because I'm your father, dammit," Ozai answered.

"You are no father to me," Zuko shot back. "You were not there when I needed you, you exiled me from the Fire Nation for nothing but expressing an opinion that the lives of our people were worth more than a mere mission. You didn't love me at all, why should I even think of you as my father."

"At least I let you go free," Ozai argued, "You had good food and water, you had a nice place to live in, you had fresh clothes every day. You had it easy in exile." He was losing his temper, Agni be damned, Ursa did not need to know this, but he couldn't control it anymore, it burst forth like a raging torrent. "Do you know what they did to me, the year I was in prison?" Ozai practically shouted. "The guards decided to play with the helpless prisoner, the water that was for me, they took it. Made me so thirsty I thought I would die. Then they offered me their own piss to drink. I was that thirsty that I drank it all, then I retched it all back up and the guards cleaned me up. That was the only nice thing any of your guards did for me. Because they didn't want their precious Fire Lord Zuko to find out what they were doing."

Once the bitter torrent began, it didn't stop there, "they learnt from that, so they decided to at least give me water when I needed it. But they still starved me, and then mixed dirt into my food. And when they fed me, they tied my arms behind my back so that I couldn't use my hands. I have endured a lot more than you ever have, then you ever will," Ozai ranted. "So don't you dare even claim you had it hard."

Zuko was shocked, he had not known what the guards had done to Ozai. He had originally picked the guards that were the best, and also those who he knew would dislike Ozai, so that no one would help him escape. Even so he did not care, "It's nothing more than you deserved," he shot back.

Ursa gasped having heard it all from the confines of the kitchen. The guards had done that to her Ozai? She lost concentration and almost hurt herself with the knife she was using to chop. She took a deep breath and then continued on with her food preparation, she would talk to Ozai later, comfort him like he needed. But first, dinner had to come. She continued to cook. She thanked Agni that Bei Fu was spending the night with the other children rather than be here to hear that revelation.

Iroh still sat impassively, absorbing all the information in. It was what he was used to now that he was so set in his ways. He had been in prison himself, at the order of his brother, and though he had endured the taunts of the Warden Poon, they were nothing more than taunts. If what his brother said was true…he let the thought hang there. Even his errant brother had not deserved that type of treatment.

"I deserved that treatment," Ozai said, incredulously. "Are you serious? Do you hate me that much?"

"Yes, I do," Zuko replied. "I don't know what mother sees in you."

"Even after I spared your life," Ozai answered, "in the Agni Kai, twice now. At least this time you didn't beg. At least this time you took your loss honourably."

A look of smarminess crossed Zuko's face, "you wouldn't have dared done it in front of Mother."

Ozai laughed, in some ways his son was still foolish, "If I was evil, I would have killed you and taken her forcefully. But I did neither."

"Both of you, quiet," Ursa's voice, sharp rang out from the kitchen, "I will not have my husband and his son bickering like that." She stalked out of the kitchen. "The food is ready, and you two will be nice to each other." Ozai smiled, he was getting tired of this bickering as well, tired of justifying himself. At least dinner would be in peace.

Ursa came out with a tray, some food laden upon it. She put the first tray down and returned for the second tray. Putting that down, she signalled for dinner to begin. She took her chopsticks and picked up a delicacy that she had made; a chicken dish. She gave a slice to her son. "Here, eat this," she said, "it's my own recipe," an almost forced cheerfulness was evident. Ozai took his own food, as he sat opposite his older brother. Iroh sat impassively eating the food that Ursa had prepared.

_Typical Iroh_, Ozai thought, _sit and watch and wait._ He had never had that type of patience that Iroh showed. Ozai didn't feel like making any light dinner conversation so he sat in silence and ate, with a smile on his face, half forced. He knew Iroh would say what he needed to say after dinner, when he was ready. Zuko sat in stony silence, not trusting himself to not burst into vitriol under his mother's watchful gaze. For some reason, still not understood by himself; his mother was willing to side with Ozai, the man who had sent her into exile. But she did, and for her sake he was willing to listen, as he knew she would do anything for him.

Dinner finished, and Zuko offered to help Ursa with the dishes, which she accepted. That left Ozai and his brother, together in the sitting room. "How has your business been going, older brother," Ozai asked.

Iroh sipped some more tea, and then put his cup down, "business is good, Ozai." He sipped some more tea. "There are many patrons that come by for my fabulous tea."

Ozai smiled, "that is good, Iroh. I'm glad you have found your happiness."

Iroh took another slurp of his tea, "I am glad too. I see you and Ursa have reconciled."

"Yes, we have," Ozai said, "though it was a long journey of self-discovery for me. I had to change who I was before she would take me back. But I am now content and happy here, with her, Bei Fu and the other children. We live here peacefully, out of the way of the rest of the world. If you could convince everyone to leave me and the others be, leave us here peacefully, you would have my thanks."

"Ozai, I don't control all the troops," Iroh said, "the Earth Kingdom soldiers are obliged to report back to their King. Only the Avatar perhaps, is your chance. Convince the Avatar, and perhaps they will listen to him." Iroh laughed, "but I think right now, he is more than fascinated with your friend Tai Feng, the airbender."

"Spiritbender," Ozai corrected, automatically, "he's a former airbender." Ozai himself knew little about his martial brother's past. "I'm sure the Avatar is interested in meeting another airbender. I'm not sure that the other airbenders approved of Tai Feng when they were still around, during grandfather's time." That much he had gathered from talking to his martial brother.

"Ah," Iroh said, "when I will be able to meet the children?" he let a slight pause float through the air between them, "and my nephew?"

Ozai smiled, "the children are over where they are, usually they all sleep together in the dormitory. Some nights Fu will spend over here, but we try not to do it that often, because most of the other kids are orphans. Some, I'm sure were orphaned because of me. They are my children as well, really."

Iroh nodded, "I haven't seen you this happy since you were really little." When Ozai had been born to Fire Lady Ilah, Iroh had already been in his twenties, and consequently, away training in the art of war. For many years, Iroh had thought that he would be the only child of Ilah, but then Ozai had come, a miraculous birth everyone said in front of Azulon, who had been fifty eight at the time of Ozai's birth. He had come back from his training school for the birth and then left again. At Ozai's birth, he had seen his father's look of love. But when he had next returned, a couple of years later, Azulon had barely talked about Ozai, instead he had talked about Iroh's need to be married and produce heirs.

A knock on the door penetrated the conversation; Ozai went to answer it, asking his brother to excuse him. He opened the door and saw that Mizumi was waiting there. He nodded to her, and turned back to his brother, "Iroh, I'm sorry, I have to go for nightly training. Maybe we can talk again later." He called out to Ursa, who was talking to Zuko in the other room. "Ursa, I have to go to training, take care of Zuko and Iroh."

"Of course," he heard Ursa answer, from the other sitting room, coming out, asking Iroh to follow her. Ozai went the other way, back into the bedroom, to change into training clothes. She kissed him just before he left, on the lips.

* * *

A/N: Non-cliffhanger ending. Please review! Reviews keep me writing this!


	5. Chapter 5

**Avatar the Last Airbender: The Spiritbender War  
**

* * *

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender. OCs do belong to me_

**A/N: AmberPegasus, badkidoh, and ArrayePL thanks for the reviews.**

**A/N: Sorekai, thanks for the review. Ozai is powerful, but not the most powerful of course...not yet anyway. Zuko's not really annoying, it's just how much Ozai has made Zuko hate him. It's all a product of his upbringing. And just wait until I delve into Ozai's upbringing...I always thought that Azulon rather hated Ozai and watching Zuko Alone confirmed that one for me.  
**

**A/N: Churnok, the war has begun, just because there aren't any overt signs of war doesn't mean that the war has not begun. But the fighting between spiritbenders hopefully will begin soon (but I have to finish setting the background first). So this chapter has a lot of breaks to help quicken the pace.  
**

* * *

_A knock on the door penetrated the conversation; Ozai went to answer it, asking his brother to excuse him. He opened the door and saw that Mizumi was waiting there. He nodded to her, and turned back to his brother, "Iroh, I'm sorry, I have to go for nightly training. Maybe we can talk again later." He called out to Ursa, who was talking to Zuko in the other room. "Ursa, I have to go to training, take care of Zuko and Iroh." _

_"Of course," he heard Ursa answer, from the other sitting room, coming out, asking Iroh to follow her. Ozai went the other way, back into the bedroom, to change into training clothes. She kissed him just before he left, on the lips._

**

* * *

Chapter 4**

It was quite late at night after his nightly training session that Ozai got back into the bed he shared with his wife, Ursa. She was waiting up for him. As he climbed in under the covers, he knew he was in for a talking to. He hadn't told much about what had happened after she had left the Fire Nation, and he wasn't sure how much she knew, and what she didn't. He knew by how she looked, that she was angry, no disappointed. "Zuko told me what you did to him, how could you? You knew how much I loved him."

Ozai looked resigned; it was going to be a long night. "I know Ursa, I was selfish. Zuko, he had challenged me verbally, disagreed with what I had said about the war plans. I was so angry that I called an Agni Kai. He thought that he was going to fight one of my generals, and he was all ready to fight my general. When I told him, because he had disrespected me, that he would fight me, the boy begged." Ozai sighed, his face crossing into a frown, "the Prince of the Fire Nation, my supposed heir, down on his knees begging like a common peasant, in front of all the generals, in front of all the nobles. That's when I knew that he was not ready to lead the Fire Nation, in the war effort should it not have finished before I died. The boy had no honour and only showed cowardice. So I did what I did. I could not let him dishonour the Fire Nation, and our family like that." As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he knew they were but a weak explanation. He had been a different man back then and he had demanded absolute obedience and respect. He had had no time for weakness or cowardice. The man he was now, was still mostly the same, but had been tempered somewhat.

"I understand, where you were coming from," Ursa replied, "though I am still angry and disappointed with what you did, what you became." Those were a relief to Ozai. At least his wife had said something without just knocking him straight over the head which was basically what he was expecting. Though he would never admit it to anyone but her, part of him was scared, because he was afraid to lose Ursa. It had taken so many years for them to find each other again. He had truly loved her then, he still truly loved her now. He hoped that they would still be sleeping together tonight. He didn't particularly fancy a night on the floor or on the couch in the other room. As if she could read his mind, Ursa leaned over and laid her head on his shoulder, her hand on his chest, holding him closer, giving him the love that he needed from her.

* * *

It was late at night on an island in the Fire Nation, Princess Azula, insane for the last year, has been taken to Roku's Island and left in the care of experienced doctors and the Fire Sages. Her bending ability has lessened somewhat without practice, but the raw power and talent was still there. Some days she would rage, and breath fire at anyone who came close to her, other days she would be listless, weary and just stare at the wall of her cell.

Yaoshi, associate of Ginra, and fellow spiritbender stood on the prow of a magnificent Fire Nation cruiser, as it approached the island, under the cover of darkness. Standing next to her was Admiral Zhu, one of the top Admirals of the Fire Nation, and one of the Fire Nation conspirators. The plan was simple, to extract the target and then get her to safety, so that they could stage their coup at the right time.

With the Fire Lord himself out of the country, hunting his own fugitive father, the timing couldn't have been better for a coup, but first they needed to succeed in this mission, and this had gotten harder, as the guards around the target had now been doubled. But Fire Nation guards and Sages were no trouble for the incoming group. Their ally in the Fire Nation capital, General Jin was keeping an eye there, along with Ginra.

As the troops landed on the hidden cove shore, Admiral Zhu reflected on the upcoming mission. He had known that Ozai had escaped from imprisonment, but it was not them. He supposed it could have been a rumour, but it had been confirmed from the palace, as true, from the well placed spies that they had. He wondered who had broken him out then?

Yaoshi crept carefully up the hidden slope of the island where Princess Azula was being held, the other troops behind her. She carefully picked her way through the rocky path, to make no noise, and the men followed her. There were guards patrolling the tower. Yaoshi saw the guards patrol around the courtyard, around one tower. From her position high in the cliffs she saw the tower that Azula was surely in. It was the one in the middle of where the guards patrolled.

She looked for the place where one guard wouldn't see the next, but they patrolled in pairs. Stealth was not going to do the job, they were going to have to go in hard, and fast. Luckily, the Fire Nation insurgents had brought enough troops for that eventuality. She signalled and the troops came into position. Her right fingers waved forward, a signal to go.

Swooping down through the night, the Fire Nation insurgents caught the surprised guards off guard. The guards outside the tower were knocked out within seconds. Yaoshi took out three of the guards, using martial arts augmented with firebending. Best for the insurgents to think she was nothing more than one of their loyal members, and a fellow conspirator. The group made it after beating all the guards. They pushed open the heavy wooden door to the tower where Azula was kept in.

Yaoshi knew that there would be guards patrolling the tower. It was designed in the classic design, stone stairways going down anti-clockwise. She couldn't know what guards were around, but she had to be alert. The troops followed her down. Coming into the corridor, she sent two blasts of fire shocking the guards, who managed to throw up a bare defence. More guards ran into the corridor, and began to fire blasts of fire at the incoming attackers. Yaoshi threw up a wall of fire, absorbing all the fire that was thrown at them. The troops behind her threw back a torrent of fire, overwhelming the guards.

Yaoshi made her way forward to the door of the cell where Azula was held. She had no way of knowing whether it was the placid Azula or the insane one that was on the other side, but she was sure she could handle both. She opened the door, with the key she had retrieved from one of the fallen guards.

"Princess Azula," she said, as she looked in. The girl seemed to be in her placid state now. "We are here to rescue you from your captivity. Come with me," Yaoshi continued, her voice was sweet, and tempting.

Azula turned, her eyes dull, and walked forwards. The cell felt cold as if there was ice in the ground. _A cold cell_ she thought, to stop firebending. Her teeth involuntarily chattered. Azula turned towards her, and began to walk, listless steps. Yaoshi turned back and received a warm cloak, and threw it over the Princess. They proceeded quickly back up the stairs into the courtyard. A running battle occurred between the insurgents and the rest of the guards. But they had to leave, reinforcements would come soon.

She saw the Captain of the insurgents signal for them to leave, and she pulled the Princess along with her. Once back on the ship it sailed away, and Yaoshi put Azula into bed and she slept, a look of peace passed through the princess's face.

* * *

It was the next morning when husband and wife woke up, and started breakfast. When breakfast was ready, they sat together just by themselves and ate the food that they had prepared. Before long, it would be time to take the kids training. "Perhaps we should invite our guests to train with you guys. I'm sure having more teachers would be good for the kids. A second point of view," Ursa suggested.

Ozai finished the egg that he was eating, chewing the food in his mouth. "I suppose so, though we would have to clear it with Mizumi and Yue Ying. But we don't know how long our guests are staying anyway." He took a sip of the tea that he had prepared for Ursa and himself.

* * *

At the North Pole, in the dead of night, Hana slipped quietly into the room were the dying Chief Arnook was lying. She took out the pillow that she had concealed, placed down the pillow on the Chief's face, and pushed down holding the pillow there, as the man beneath it died. There was no struggle, as the Chief was already so close to death. She took the pillow and left, the room, now she knew that Hahn would become Chief and she would be the Chief's wife, and wield her own political power to achieve her ends.

Hahn was so easily manipulable, she thought as she returned to her bed, and I'm so good at manipulation. And soon all will go according to our plans she thought as she slipped back quietly into bed, a satisfied smile on her face.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the guest quarters, Aang, Toph, Katara and Sokka awoke. Sokka's stomach rumbled loudly, "where's the food?" he complained, as he saw Aang stretch his arms and Katara yawn. Katara stumbled around.

"I don't know where the kitchen is," she said, "let me look around for it." She looked towards the opposite of the quarters. She peeked inside the first, it was the toilet, the second had a laundry. The third and last door held the kitchen. Inside was some food in the pantry on the shelf. She took some of it down, and began breakfast.

Aang had to go feed Appa his food after he and his friends finished breakfast. When he was there feeding his air bison, he found that Tai Feng had just finished feeding his own air bison. Tai Feng greeted the Avatar, "I see you are on your way to feed your air bison."

"Yes, I am," Aang answered.

"So how long do you think you will stay," Tai Feng asked, "I hope you do realise that everyone who has landed can not reveal our existence here. We would be forced to defend ourselves; I would defend my martial brother to the death."

"I understand," Aang answered, "But not even I can wipe people's memories. One chance misstatement would be all it took."

"We will have to take that chance, but at least we don't want anyone purposely spreading word of where we are," Tai Feng replied. "You are the Avatar, you can convince the others not to."

"I'll try," Aang said, "but I can't guarantee how everyone else will feel, knowing that Ozai is free and bending again." Tai Feng nodded and went on his way.

* * *

In Ba Sing Se, Lady Liu Xin snuck into a bed chamber, as she had done every night for the last two weeks. An interesting liaison awaited her there since she had taken her new lover. With years of practice in seduction it was very easy to seduce the unschooled man that was now her lover. He wasn't good looking, but then again she had seduced many a man for power. Seduced of course, never loved. No, she only had one love and that was power. Soon she would be ruler of Ba Sing Se.

* * *

The other troops had spent the night bunking on the two airships that had come up. They awaited their orders from Iroh, and Fire Lord Zuko, and Lady Toph, who was ostensibly the leader of the earthbending contingent. The troops were worried, they had seen the escaped prisoner, but it seemed that they were now guests of the people who lived here. They waited for their orders.

* * *

It was time for the kids to do their morning practice. Ozai picked up his son, and Zhen Ji from the kids dormitories, after they had had breakfast and a rest. Today, though he had invited Iroh to teach the two children some of the philosophy of firebending which he himself was no expert on he had realised. Some of the philosophy of firebending were contained in Brother Huo's scrolls, his predecessor, ex-firebender spiritbender who was now dead, but he had been taking his own time in reading the scrolls as well as the spiritbending scrolls, as he had to share his time between teaching practical firebending, raising the children, and being a loving husband to his wife. So it fell to his much older brother Iroh to teach firebending philosophy for today.

"Iroh," Ozai said, "we have the area here in the courtyard to practice." He introduced his older brother to his two students. "This is Iroh, my older brother," he said, "he will be teaching us all about some philosophy behind firebending today."

"Hello, Iroh," the children said. "Papa Bear says that you are teaching us some things behind firebending today."

Iroh laughed, "Your papa bear asked me to teach you some of the basics philosophies of firebending. I studied with those that were the originators of firebending in my youth so let me begin." Iroh began to teach the basics of the philosophy of firebending, beginning with harmony and life the two central tenets of firebending as espoused by the ancient dragons. It was a time for Ozai to relax and take some time out from teaching.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Omashu, the new King Ji Liu, sat in his throne room. He carefully picked up his right sleeve with his left hand. The brush in his right hand dipped gently into the pot of ink, and then he signed, the edict that in effect, made the Fire Nation colonists fugitives. The people of Omashu had never gotten over the occupation by the Fire Nation, and as Ji Liu rightly guessed still harboured hatred for the Fire Nation people. He had just signed the edict which would authorise the rounding up of the Fire Nation colonists and their forced deportation back to the Fire Nation.

It fit in so nicely with the bad harvest in the Fire Nation, that Ginra had informed him about. With an influx of refugees into the Fire Nation or an explosion in food aid shipments from the Fire Nation to its refugees, there would run into food shortages and famine. This would cause a revolt against Fire Lord Zuko, and then Ginra and Yaoshi would place Princess Azula on the throne, and relaunch the war, but this time it would be every nation for itself, every people for itself. In the chaos, they would rise, and offer a plan of peace, and then with that they would gain control of the world. Remake it so that there would forever be peace, enforced peace, but peace nonetheless. They would mix all the peoples together, abolish the Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom, and the Water Tribes, and force them to be one people, the people of the World.

The Avatar might try to intervene, but they had developed strategies to deal with the Avatar, including if he used the Avatar State. In fact their strategy made it exceedingly dangerous for the Avatar to reach into the Avatar State. Death during that state would break the cycle, and they knew that Aang would hesitate putting it into risk unless it was absolutely necessary.

Ji Liu thought of his partner, Liu Xin in Ba Sing Se, slowly seducing the king into marrying her, and making her his Queen, and then effective ruler of the Earth Kingdom. She would ensure Earth Kingdom's support for the edict and hopefully get it extended to all Fire Nation colonists in the Earth Kingdom.

* * *

Iroh finished his lecture on the philosophies of fire bending. Ozai had dozed off during Iroh's lecture, propping himself up against one of the building's walls. He could never stand one of Iroh's lectures, even as a child. A conspiratorial smile passed between Iroh, and the two kids. What juvenile prank were they going to pull? As they crept closer, they could hear the sleeping father's soft snoring. Iroh approached with two buckets of water. He gave both of the giggling children one bucket of water each. As Iroh signalled, Fu and Ji threw the two buckets of water, straight at Ozai, dousing him with a torrent of water.

Ozai sprang awake, water dripping down his clothes, pooling on the ground. "That's cold," he exclaimed. Then he saw who was responsible, "Papa Bear's coming to get you three naughty kids," he said, grinning. He got up and began to chase his kids. They all ran around the courtyard, Ozai chasing them all around, playing with his kids. Iroh stood next to one of the buildings laughing. He had not ever seen his younger brother happy like this with his other children. Part of him was jealous of his younger brother, as he had lost his only son, and this reminded him of himself playing around with Lu Ten. Though Zuko had filled that void a little, Zuko was still Ozai's child and not his own. He saw Ozai scoop up both his children with a burst of speed and run around with them one in each arm, a look of joy passing through the children's faces. Iroh sighed, wishing that he had remarried after his wife's death, and had more children. It was the first time in a long while that he had been jealous of his younger brother. Usually, he kept his feelings under control very well, but seeing his brother with the children, after what he had done, just resonated in envy within Iroh's heart.

* * *

A/N: Non-cliffhanger ending. Please review! Reviews keep me writing this!


	6. Chapter 6

**Avatar the Last Airbender: The Spiritbender War  
**

* * *

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender. OCs do belong to me_

**A/N: Thanks for all the reviews everyone. It's sort of going towards the transition chapters now before the war really begins.  
**

* * *

_Ozai sprang awake, water dripping down his clothes, pooling on the ground. "That's cold," he exclaimed. Then he saw who was responsible, "Papa Bear's coming to get you three naughty kids," he said, grinning. He got up and began to chase his kids. They all ran around the courtyard, Ozai chasing them all around, playing with his kids. Iroh stood next to one of the buildings laughing. He had not ever seen his younger brother happy like this with his other children. Part of him was jealous of his younger brother, as he had lost his only son, and this reminded him of himself playing around with Lu Ten. Though Zuko had filled that void a little, Zuko was still Ozai's child and not his own. He saw Ozai scoop up both his children with a burst of speed and run around with them one in each arm, a look of joy passing through the children's faces. Iroh sighed, wishing that he had remarried after his wife's death, and had more children. It was the first time in a long while that he had been jealous of his younger brother. Usually, he kept his feelings under control very well, but seeing his brother with the children, after what he had done, just resonated in envy within Iroh's heart._

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Fire Lady Mai sat in the Fire Nation palace, ruling in her fiance's stead. In reality it was really the Imperial Chancellors and General Jin making the day to day decisions of trying to run the country, which she did not understand at all. All she saw was that they were beginning to make cut backs, to save so money they said. She had agreed with their suggestion, as she knew she couldn't let the Fire Nation Citizens suffer whilst they still lived in splendour.

She sighed, as she went into her private study. Ty Lee was there waiting for her, staying with her whilst Zuko was away. She had been invited, as a friend for Mai, but also as a bodyguard of sorts as well. Mai sat down at the table opposite Ty Lee. "So, how was the session today with the Chancellors?" Ty Lee asked.

"More of the same," Mai said, deadpan. "They just repeated the same things, the Fire Nation is cutting back spending, food harvests are bad this year, then they present a rush of figures and statistics, and I sign off on what the Chancellors want to do."

"Don't you think you should at least take a look at the figures?" Ty Lee asked.

"I did," Mai said, "but they don't really make that much sense to me. But I get the gist of it. The last year has been very hard on the Fire Nation. Our negotiators, and Zuko did the best that they could, but the war reparation that we have to pay, each and every year is straining the national budget. There's no way around it. The people are suffering but we can't do anything else, we just have to ride it out. I've already cut back the palace spending, and our army budget, but not too much because General Jin would vigorously protest. Many of our soldiers weren't trained in any other occupations and most still wish to stay professional soldiers, so the Fire Nation has to bear their cost." Ty Lee nodded and poured out some tea, which the two women drank.

* * *

Lord Ji Liu stood on the balcony on top of the gate of Omashu. He looked down as his Edict went into effect. This event would become known as the Enforced March. All Fire Nation colonists were in the process of being expelled. A long line of people, under the watch his elite earthbenders were being forced to march outside the city. Lord Ji Liu intended to march them all the way to the closest port, load them onto a large ship, tow the ship to Fire Nation waters, and then abandon the ship and sail back to the Earth Kingdom. He had the support of the Earth Kingdom citizens of Omashu in this endeavour for they still hated the Fire Nation colonists who had stolen their jobs, their wealth and their homes.

It was so easy to manipulate that hate, Ji Liu thought as he watched the last Fire Nation colonists being herded out of the city. He saw one man try to break free from the column, his legs pumping hard as he ran. He saw his elite earthbender, move, and a spike emerged from the ground, impaling the man sending a gush of blood to the ground around him. The earthbender looked away and went back to his job of enforcing the march. Now they knew what would happen to those that did not comply. Ji Liu smiled, satisfied. Outside the port they had set up a rudimentary tent city, just in case the ship wasn't ready yet, but last he had heard, it would be ready when the expelled colonists would arrive. Luckily for him, he had heard from Liu Xin in Ba Sing Se, that the Avatar had travelled up to the North of the Earth kingdom, ostensibly looking for the escaped Ozai.

* * *

Yaoshi entered the room on the Fire Nation ship where Azula was. She wondered which Azula would wake up, the placid one, or the angry one. She could control both of course, easily if need be, but the placid one would be much easier to control. She saw Azula flutter her eyes, "Good morning, Princess," she said, "I see that you are well rested."

"Yes," Azula answered, "I am." It was the placid Azula that answered.

"You are free," Yaoshi said, "I will help you regain your throne." Azula looked around.

"Yes," she said, "my throne," she intoned dully, "Thank you for getting me my throne back."

"Not yet," Yaoshi replied, "dear Princess. We must wait, and hide and gather our forces."

"Yes," Azula intoned, "we must wait, and hide and gather our forces. Thank you."

"Here Princess," Yaoshi said, "you must eat." She walked to the door, and opened it. There was a soldier with some food for her. Yaoshi took the tray from him and motioned for him to leave, she would sit with the Princess. He left, and she shut the door behind him.

She walked over to the table in the cabin and motioned for Azula to sit with her which she did. "Here eat this with me." Azula and Yaoshi ate in silence as the ship they were on sailed into the secret base.

* * *

Back in the Temple, the next day went and passed, and the Avatar and his group were beginning to leave to return to Ba Sing Se. The Temple itself was isolated and so no news had filtered through to the Temple, unless the inhabitants of the Temple moved down to village that was the closest which was still a journey. The Avatar and Iroh were both satisfied that they weren't leaving any world class criminal plots behind them at the Temple. Aang enjoyed his time with Tai Feng, talking about the almost lost art of airbending. Tai Feng waved goodbye, as Appa lifted off following the two airships.

Ozai was relieved to see the airships and the Avatar leave the Temple. Seeing Zuko and Iroh reminded him of what he had left behind, and the temptations were certainly there to take back what he used to have. But it would have cost him the love of his wife. He had lost her once for his dreams of power, he would not make that choice again, especially now they had their third child, the child who was his chance to have a proper relationship with, as father and son, unlike his own failed relationships with his father and his own first son. He turned away and went back to his quarters where Ursa and the children were waiting for the morning martial arts lessons.

Ursa kissed her husband on the cheek as he came to collect the children for their training. Ursa would spend this time preparing the children's education, of the non-martial kind, in sums, arts and the like. She hummed to herself as she sat down in her study. Today, though she was rather lost in her thoughts. Her eldest son had just left. She could see that he was now a man, independent, no longer the little boy that she left behind seven years ago, the boy that needed to be protected. No, now her focus was on her third child, and her husband. That was not to say that she would not have loved to spend time with Zuko, but now was not the time to do so, with her husband still so vulnerable from his time in prison. Despite the fact that he was the head of the family, he was the one that was the one in need of the most love, from her in any case.

Zuko had learnt to adapt without Ursa's presence. Bei Fu had the other children and the other spiritbenders with them, but Ozai only had her alone. Ozai only had Ursa's love sustaining him, keeping him on the right path, so that was her priority right now. She would have loved to fly away to Ember Island; or the Fire Nation capital to be with Zuko but she would not abandon her husband not right now when he needed her the most. Even more than Azula who she was told was mentally damaged. She and Azula had never been close, and she believed that to heal Azula, she needed Ozai to be healed first because he was the one that she would listen to, and she believed it would help complete his healing process too. To show him that he could love in a positive manner.

Tai Feng was training up in the top of the mountains, which was best for airbending. He had the two children with him. They were going through the basics of forming spheres of air between their hands. Afterward, they would learn to stretch and elongate the sphere into a tube and then compress it back again. That would teach them some control over the wind. Soon he hoped they would be able to shape air easily. He watched as his daughter stretched her sphere into a cylinder and then back again, once, twice, three times. His son compressed the sphere into a flat disk, a rather dangerous move, as it required more strength than usual, but mostly control. Too much pressure and the disk would explode. He watched both of them carefully as they continued to learn, someday hopefully they would help rebalance the world with airbenders.

* * *

The airship landed in Ba Sing Se, the city was in full celebration Aang saw as he alighted. Turning to the closest guard he asked, "Why are the people celebrating?"

"The King is getting married to Lady Liu Xin," the guard replied. "Celebration of their betrothal, Avatar Aang."

Toph snorted, "the slut is just a flattering courtesan who's looking to place her hands into the King's person so that she can show off." Sokka laughed.

"You jealous?" he quipped. A rock flew in response. "Oww," Sokka complained, as he rubbed his head. They went back towards the Palace to visit the King. Fire Lord Zuko and his uncle followed, as they were important guests.

King Kuei sat in his throne room, "Avatar Aang, Fire Lord Zuko and friends," he greeted, "You are all invited to my wedding. So did you find Ozai?" he asked.

"Yes, we did," Aang replied, "and we have a long story to tell you later at a convenient time." He cut off any reply that King Kuei was making. "I believe that you have to deal with the other court petitioners for the day. Perhaps after dinner tonight in your private study would be a fitting time." Aang had had to learn diplomacy very quickly, as the Avatar, his job not only included fighting tyrants, but also learning to smooth over matters of contention peacefully. With a quick bow, the party exited, and headed back towards Uncle Iroh's tea shop, the Jasmine Dragon.

* * *

Back in the Fire Nation capital, General Jin and Ginra plotted. Ginra had received word from Yaoshi that Azula was now free and in her possession. It was time for the next phase. With the Fire Lord still away hunting Ozai, it would be a lot easier. Lady Mai was no firebender and neither was her friend Ty Lee. The Imperial Guard inside the palace had been rotated such that their loyal troops were the ones within the compound that night. There were various functionaries, chancellors and army members within the meeting, though it was a small meeting. They all agreed on one thing, for the sake of the Fire Nation, Zuko had to be dethroned and his policies reversed, even if it meant restarting the war. The Fire Nation was on the verge of financial and economic oblivion, starvation was coming in the next year, unless they quickly reconquered some farmable land. The conspirators finalised their final plans and then left.

* * *

In Ba Sing Se the day of the wedding approached. Lady Liu Xin sat in her room, reading a letter from Lord Ji Liu of Omashu, who was arriving later on today for the wedding. She had been attending all of King Kuei's petitions and had the ear of the new head of the Dai Li, who was an ardent nationalist. Together they had conspired to keep any news of Lord Ji Liu's edict from reaching the King's ear, until the wedding was over. When she was Queen officially, she would be able to officially exert influence within the Court.

Ji Liu reported that the enforced march was going well. Some of the interlopers were dying on the march but he did not care, after all they were only 'evil Fire Nation people'. She had long been in support of the Spiritbenders controlling the world, ever since Sozin's war had begun. She had been one of the first to join Lei Dian, an ex-airbender, Hana, an ex-waterbender who had advocated that the spiritbenders had to take rule to stop the war. They had been opposed by Huo, the eldest martial brother at the time, and also the de facto leader. The split that had proceeded from that argument had ripped the Spiritbenders apart and began the war between them. However, Liu Xin had chosen her side, based on what she had felt was best and she was not going to back out on it now. She knew that Ji Liu had chosen this side too and this was all part of Lei Dian's plan. She put the letter down, and burnt it with the candle that was providing light.

* * *

Night came, as King Kuei and Aang met along with Fire Lord Zuko and the others. King Kuei waited impatiently for an explanation of what had happened at the Temple. The attendant poured out some jasmine tea, and then left.

"So," King Kuei said, "Avatar Aang, what happened?"

Aang began the story, "we found him, in an isolated monastery, living with some other people, including Lady Ursa. He is at peace and Lady Ursa gave surety for her husband's continued good behaviour. That was enough for us."

King Kuei exploded, "you would trust so easily? He could easily be trying to take over the world again."

"I do," Fire Lord Zuko said, "I trust my mother knows her husband." Aang nodded in agreement.

"So you don't trust him?" King Kuei said, "you trust the word of your mother."

"And the others," Aang replied.

"The others?" King Kuei asked.

"The people he is living with," Aang answered. "They will keep him out of trouble." King Kuei nodded.

* * *

That night, Liu Xin knocked gently on the King's door. She wanted to know what the Avatar and the King had talked about. She entered as he beckoned her in. She came to stand behind the King, and began kneading his shoulders, giving her fiancé a massage after a long day's work. A look of pleasure passed through the King's face, as she kneaded harder. "What did the Avatar and Fire Lord want to talk to you about," she asked.

"Oh, nothing," the King replied.

"You can tell me," Liu Xin purred as she ran her fingers over the King's face. "We are getting married."

"Of course," Kuei said, "we are getting married, but these are matters of state that a Queen need not worry about."

Liu Xin pouted, "but my Lord, I want to know. You have to trust me, how could we let this come between our upcoming marriage?"

The King sighed, "but you must tell no one else," he said, as he told her what had transpired. Liu Xin smiled, this was good news for her. She would need to inform the others, but she must play the part. She had to play the part of the loving wife to be, the Queen-to-be.

Later that night, Liu Xin sat in her private quarters, penning the letter to her comrades, telling them the location of the Temple, and that their enemy was situated. The homing pigeon bird left the window of her quarters within the palace, its wings fluttering in the night sky.

* * *

A/N: Non-cliffhanger ending. Please review! Reviews keep me writing this!


End file.
